Ball charged with attempted murder in mom’s stabbing

February 21, 2014

LISBON - Derek D. Ball, the Salem man accused of stabbing his mother multiple times, was indicted this week by the Columbiana County grand jury on charges of attempted murder and felonious assault.

Ball was one of 17 open indictments issued by the grand jury, which concluded three days of hearings on Thursday. Another 13 secret indictments will be released as they are served. The grand jury failed to indict on three of the 34 cases presented by county Prosecutor Robert Herron. One case was continued.

Ball, 24, was living on Home Circle, Salem, when he and his mother, Josee Wilson, reportedly argued leading to him allegedly stabbing her multiple times on Jan. 12. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing in late January and was bound over to the grand jury on the single felonious assault charge.

The new attempted murder charge alleges his conduct, if successful, would have led to the murder of Wilson. The new charge is a first-degree felony.

Four of the open indictments issued by the grand jury involved an alleged robbery of Edna Geer on Jan. 5. Frank J. Flaherty Jr., 39, Shadyside Avenue, East Liverpool, is charged with robbery, a third-degree felony, for allegedly attempting or committing the theft.

Brianne M. Flaherty, 19, Shadyside Avenue, East Liverpool, and David J. Mathes, 22, Birch Road, East Liverpool, are each charged with complicity to robbery, a third-degree felony, for allegedly assisting Frank J. Flaherty, and Gloria D. Flaherty, 39, Shadyside Avenue, East Liverpool, is accused of two counts of obstructing justice, both fifth-degree felonies. She is alleged to have attempted to keep law enforcement from finding or investigating the alleged crimes of both Frank and Brianne Flaherty on Jan. 6.

Additional open indictments were:

- Alex M. Brauning, 27, Dover, is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony with a firearm specification; carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony; and illegal possession of a firearm in a liquor establishment. On Jan. 21 Brauning allegedly harmed or attempted to harm Ethan Hood with a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and had the gun concealed on his person at the Night Court Bar in Lisbon.

- Cedrick Johnson, 20, Steubenville, is charged with two counts of second-degree felony discharging a firearm at or into a home and one count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. Court documents allege Johnson on Jan. 13 shot at the Wilber Avenue, East Liverpool, home of Vicki Tice and David Crowe, as well as at the neighboring home occupied by Courney McDole. Finally, he is accused of impeding the investigation by hiding or concealing the handgun and clothing worn during the alleged shooting incident.

- Darwin E. Lake Jr., 29, Fifth Avenue, East Liverpool, is charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a third-degree felony. Lake is accused of engaging of sexual conduct with a teen between the ages of 13 and 16 who was at least 10 years younger than him on Dec. 14, 2013.

- Scott A. McKinnon, 52, College Street, East Liverpool, is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony. He is accused of harming Lisa Taylor on Jan. 3 while trespassing into her apartment on Moore Street, East Liverpool.

- Corey D. Miller, 31, Columbus, is charged with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony. Miller is accused of trespassing into the home of Michelle Kirbaugh, Blakely Street, East Liverpool, and threatening to harm someone inside on Jan. 5.

- Mark R. Smith II, 28, Woodbine Avenue, East Liverpool, is charged with trespassing into a habitation and assault, both fourth-degree felonies. Smith is accused of trespassing into the home of Michael Badgley, Wood Alley, East Liverpool, on Dec. 27, 2013 and then harming or attempting to harm Lt. Justin Wright of the Liverpool Township Police.

- Zachary C. Shingler, 28, Dewey Avenue, East Liverpool, is charged with three counts of burglary and one count of attempted burglary, all third-degree felonies. Court documents allege on Dec. 8 and 9, 2013 Shingler broke into the home of Victoria Mitchell, Park Boulevard, East Liverpool. Additionally, he is accused of attempting to break into the home of Doris Sanford, Park Boulevard, on Dec. 15. Then on Dec. 16, he is accused of going into the home of Robin Bundy, McKinnon Avenue, East Liverpool. Then on Dec. 21, he is accused of breaking into the Park Boulevard home of Theresa Landis.

- Leonard B. Coursin, 62, Henry Avenue, East Liverpool, is charged with breaking and entering, a fifth-degree felony and having a weapon while under a disability, a third-degree felony. On Jan. 15, Coursin allegedly went into a neighbor's garage, owned by William Plumm to commit a theft offense and also was carrying a .22-caliber rifle when he has been ordered by a 2008 court case not to be in the possession of a firearm due to a mental illness.

- Ashley D. Cox, 24, Pinewood Drive, New Waterford, is charged with two counts of fifth-degree felony possession of drugs charges for allegedly having small amounts of heroin in her possession on both Nov. 3, 2013 and Dec. 2, 2013.

- Barry S. Rummel, 50, North Pleasant Drive, East Palestine, is charged with having a weapon under a disability and violating a protection order, both third-degree felonies. Rummel is accused of having a shotgun in his possession on Dec. 20, 2013, when he was convicted in 2007 in Virginia Beach, Va. of a crime related to threatening to bomb or burn. Additionally, he reportedly was living in a home in December with a person he was ordered not to be around.

- Nathan E. Steer, 27, East Eighth Street, Salem, is charged with illegal manufacture of drugs, a second-degree felony with a forfeiture specification; cultivation of marijuana, a fifth-degree felony; illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, a third-degree felony; and four counts of possession of drugs, charges of varying degrees. Court documents allege on Dec. 29, 2013, Steer had methamphetamines, alprazolam, diazepam, a synthetic psychodelic drug known as 251-NBOMe, $162, chemicals to make meth and between 200 grams and 999 grams of marijuana.